Herbicide or Household liquids?

Problem Scenario

Some people are tired of waiting for the slowness of herbicide. So, I'm testing these different commonly known methods to see if herbicide is really the fastest way to kill your weeds.

Broad Question:

Is herbicide the fastest way to kill a plant?

Specific Question:

Does the type of liquid applied to the plant effect the growth of Winter Rye?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that the herbicide will work faster at killing the plants.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:Type of liquid
Dependent Variable: Plant growth

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:Amount of liquid, type of liquid, placement of plants, temperature, sunlight, soil

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

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General Plan

To start of the project I will be have my solutions, seeds, soil, and cups at ready. First, I will take the small cup and fill it to the selected amount of soil. Then I will insert the Winter-rye seeds and gently shake the cup so that the seeds are evenly distributed throughout the soil. Then I will aplly the chosen treatment for that plant, place it in the chosen area, and collect data of the growth eery so often when reapplying the solution.

Potential Problems And Solutions

Temperatures could drop or rise dramatically causing the plants to die.
solution: Place in a controlled space where the temperature is the same at all times.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

HERBICIDE is a chemical solution so the user will have to use EXTREME CAUTION.

Experimental Design

Number Of Trials:
4
Number Of Subjects In Each trial:
5
When data will be collected:
Every other day for 30 Days.
Number of Observations:
16
Where will data be collected?:
In a separate small notebook supplied by me.
(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

Resources and Budget Table

Egg whites	Hannaford	$??.??
Winter Rye	Teacher	$00.00?
Olive Oil	Hannaford	$5.00
Vinegar	Hannaford	$2.50
Herbicide	Paris Farmers	$14.50-$20.00
Dixie cups	Walmart	$1.50
Soil	Paris Famers	$2.00-$7.00?

Data Table

Time Line

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Background Research

For the past year people have been wondering which treatment is faster to kill weeds; herbicide or household items? This research was the starting point to this experiment; it's what got it going. In the process of researching I discovered three new ways through the internet and three new ways through friends and family.
Some treatments are vinegar, egg whites, and olive oil. Vinegar is a very acidic and common household item. The vinegar acid will go into the roots of the plant, or into the seed, and kill the plant. The egg whites do not have the nutrients needed to grow. Olive oil is a very thick liquid, so too much of it will result in it not being absorbed. These solutions are all liquid treatments and will either kill the plant with its contents, or smother it from nutrients and oxygen.
Two other treatments I found through my research are suffocating your grass, and a mixture of vinegar, salt, and dish soap. When you suffocate your grass, your are blocking all nutrients, sunlight, and water. Blocking off all these essential things for a certain amount of time will kill the grass. In order to block it off you must first Cut the grass as short as you can then lay 8-10 layers of newspaper or plastic on your grass. Then you should place sand or mulch on top of the newspaper/plastic and leave it there for about two weeks. After the wait, your grass should be dead.
The vinegar, salt, and dish soap mixture is said to be a highly effective treatment for killing or ridding weeds and grass. As I already know from above research, vinegar is highly acidic, along with salt. I looked into why you would add the dish soap and found that the chemicals in it would contradict and destroy the nutrients in the plant that it uses to grow. So this might also be an interesting solution to try.
After looking into each individual treatment in depth, I decided on using vinegar, olive oil, egg whites, water, and herbicide as my treatments for this experiment, being that they had the highest chance of being the most effective and most able to perform

References

Desjardins, Doug. "Easy Way to Kill Grass." EHow. Demand Media, 12 Nov. 2009. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ehow.com/way_5642923_easy-way-kill-grass.html>.
"What Is a Good Homemade Weed Killer?" WikiAnswers. Answers. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_good_homemade_weed_killer>.

Detailed Procedure

1. Take a small 8 oz cup.
2. Fill it about three-fourths of the way full with soil.
3.Insert 4-7 Winter Rye seeds.
4. Shake gently so that the seeds are evenly distributed throughout the soil.
5. Set in prepared area.
6. Apply about 20ml. chosen treatment.
7. Wait. Frequently (about every other day) record the growth of plants.
8. When collecting data reapply solution.

Diagram

Photo List

I will be taking pictures of the following:
Me labeling cups
Applying the substances
My plants after first setting them up
The plants as they progress in growth ( or not )
The plants at the end of the experiment

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Results

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

Water treatment >
< Vinegar treatment< Olive Oil Treatment

Egg White treatment (below) Herbicide >

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Data Analysis

Conclusion

Taking line from the information and research listed throughout this paper, the average human can conclude that household solutions work just as fast as herbicide. It will not matter which method you use, unless you are looking for a cheaper solution.

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Discussion

Although this experiment may help the common gardener, it does not have a major benefit to society. This experiment, although it did practically fail, shows that it does not matter which method of plant extermination you use in your garden. This experiment might not be the best experiment to look at in terms of plant extermination. One reason that this is not the best experiment is that the relationship between my variables is non-existent. I was able to answer my specific question,(Does the type of liquid applied to the plant effect the growth of Winter Rye?)which came out with a result that; the type of liquid does not effect the plant growth.
If I were to have the opportunity to redo this experiment I would have to change a few things. One thing that i would change is definitely he environment. I would put them in a controlled temperature room so that heat or cold would not be a variable. I would also let the plants grow for a certain amount of time before applying the treatment.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

This experiment does not have a large benefit in society and no benefit in the world of science. The small benefit that it does have is that gardeners should not be confused anymore on which method to use for plant extermination.

Abstract

Does the type of liquid applied to the plant effect the growth of Winter Rye? That is the particular question being asked In this experiment. It is hypothesized that herbicide will be remain the fastest treatment to kill weeds. But, just to prove this method, you must first do some in-depth, or background, research on the topic of weed killing.
In the process of researching, three new solutions have been found. These solutions are the following: Suffocating your grass; vinegar; and a mixture of vinegar, salt, and dish soap. These common household items are said to have a great effect on the ridding of your weeds. Suffocating grass is exactly what it sounds like. In that process you cover the grass blocking off all sunlight and nutrients. That's one effective way to kill your plants. Another effective way is to use acidic household items like vinegar, salt, lemon juice, dish soap, etc. Vinegar alone has been proven to be a highly effective treatment, as proven in this experiment.
In this experiment, I have taken precocious steps in setting up the experiment, performing the experiment, and collecting data. The process that I have gone through to complete each of those tasks is not a difficult one. First, I gathered my treatments ( herbicide, olive oil, egg whites, and water). The next steps I took were to fill 25 8oz. cups about three fourths way full with fertilized soil, plant 5 winter rye seeds in each, and apply 20ml of each solution to the correct cups ( 5 cups for each treatment). After this was completed, every other day I would record the data ( plant growth cm ) in a lab notebook; reapplying the treatments every time I went to record data. After a time of thirty total days, my experiment was complete, but not with the results I expected
After looking at the results from this experiment, I was quite disappointed. The results were zeros all the way down the data sheet. This data meant that my experiment had failed. But, I knew what I needed to fix.
This experiment may be of some service to the common gardener but, it has no use in the scientific field. After completing this experiment, I have realized that the type of liquid treatment applied to plants does not affect the plant growth. Although this may not be the best experiment to take word from, being that even my plants that were being treated with water did not grow.